Vice President Mike Pence arrived in Boston on Tuesday for high-dollar, closed-door fund-raiser aiding the Republican National Committee. It was his first trip to Massachusetts since the 2016 election.
Pence arrived on Air Force Two at Boston Logan International Airport under dreary skies and nearly freezing temperatures. He shook hands and took selfies for 13 minutes without an overcoat — but did not take any questions — before getting into a 19-car motorcade to take him to the Langham Hotel downtown just as the evening commute began.
At the ritzy hotel in Post Office Square, Pence was scheduled to give remarks at a Trump Victory Committee fund-raiser, officials said. An invitation to the event asked for $15,000 to attend the event or a $35,000 donation per couple to attend a “Roundtable and Photo Opportunity” in addition to the main event. Among those listed on the host committee as attending were Ronna Romney McDaniel, national finance chairman Todd Ricketts, and state finance chair Chris Vincze. Overall the event was supposed to raise an estimated $500,000.
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Republican Governor Charlie Baker, who is up for reelection this year, said he wouldn’t be with Pence in Boston but would attend his own events in and around New Bedford instead.
Baker told reporters he wasn’t trying to send a message with his absence, but that “my calendar already had all kinds of other stuff on it which was important.”
Massachusetts Republican Party chairwoman Kirsten Hughes and Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch greeted Pence on the tarmac.
It was Pence’s first trip to Massachusetts since July 2016 when he took some vacation time from the campaign trail with his family in Boston. His daughter attended Northeastern University.
